StrongerBible

qaddish

קַדִּישׁ

AramaicH6922“holy, holy ones, ...”

Appears 13 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Dan 4:8(5)Dan 4:9(6)Dan 4:13(10)Dan 4:17(14)Dan 4:18(15)Dan 4:23(20)Dan 5:11Dan 7:18Dan 7:21Dan 7:22 (2×)Dan 7:25Dan 7:27
Word studykah-DEESHadjective

What qaddish means

holy: belonging to God's own realm rather than to ordinary life

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

This is the Aramaic word for holy, and it belongs to the Aramaic chapters of Daniel alone. It does not start from moral purity, and it does not mean separated off. It says that someone or something belongs to God's own world and is therefore not ordinary. The Hebrew word for holy (קָדוֹשׁ) works the same way across a far wider range of things.

All thirteen uses fall into three groups, and the word means the same thing in each:

  • Two Babylonian kings say that the spirit of the holy gods is in Daniel, speaking of the divine world as they understood it.
  • A heavenly messenger who comes down with a sentence against Nebuchadnezzar is called a watcher (עִיר) and a holy one.
  • In Daniel 7 the holy ones of the Most High are the company given the everlasting kingdom once the beasts are judged.

The word can also stand alone as a noun, "a holy one" or "the holy ones," and then it names beings instead of describing them. That is where the difficulty starts, because the text does not always say who they are. In Daniel 4 they are plainly heavenly. In Daniel 7 readers have argued for centuries over whether they are the heavenly host, God's persecuted people on earth, or both at once.

That argument reaches past Daniel. When the New Testament calls ordinary believers "the holy ones," or "saints," it uses the Greek word for holy (ἅγιος), and many scholars trace the habit back to these chapters. It is why that language carries the ring of a throne room and a verdict rather than mere personal piety.

Nuances

1aholy, said of a god: belonging to the divine world rather than the human one
TranslatabilityDirect
Dan 4:8(5)Dan 4:9(6)Dan 4:18(15)Dan 5:11
1ba holy one: a heavenly being who belongs to God's court and carries out his decisions
Dan 4:13(10)Dan 4:17(14)Dan 4:23(20)
1cthe holy ones of the Most High: the company to whom the everlasting kingdom is given, read by some as God's faithful people and by others as the heavenly host
TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyContested
Dan 7:18Dan 7:21Dan 7:22 (2×)Dan 7:25Dan 7:27

Disputed

Who the holy ones of the Most High are in Daniel 7:18, 21, 22, 25 and 27: heavenly beings or the faithful people of Israel.

  • contestedThey are the faithful people of God on earth, the community persecuted by the king of the fourth beast, to whom the everlasting kingdom is given. On this reading the phrase in 7:27 is appositional (the people, that is, the holy ones of the Most High), and the persecution language of 7:21 and 7:25 fits a human community.; G. F. Hasel, "The Identity of 'The Saints of the Most High' in Daniel 7," Biblica 56 (1975); V. S. Poythress, "The Holy Ones of the Most High in Daniel VII," Vetus Testamentum 26 (1976); L. F. Hartman and A. A. Di Lella, The Book of Daniel, Anchor Bible 23 (Doubleday, 1978)
  • contestedThey are the angelic host of heaven, and Israel comes into view only as the host's earthly counterpart. The genitive construction of 7:27, the people of the holy ones of the Most High, is taken as decisive, along with the wider use of "holy ones" for heavenly beings in Job 15:15, Psalm 89:5-7, Zechariah 14:5 and Daniel 8:13.; M. Noth, "The Holy Ones of the Most High," in The Laws in the Pentateuch and Other Studies (Oliver & Boyd, 1966); L. Dequeker, "The 'Saints of the Most High' in Qumran and Daniel," Oudtestamentische Studiën 18 (1973); J. J. Collins, "The Son of Man and the Saints of the Most High in the Book of Daniel," Journal of Biblical Literature 93 (1974): 50-66; J. J. Collins, Daniel, Hermeneia (Fortress, 1993)
  • minorityThe expression deliberately embraces both the heavenly host and the faithful on earth, who are seen together in the vision rather than set against each other.; J. E. Goldingay, Daniel, Word Biblical Commentary 30 (Word, 1989)

What scholars say about qaddish

Comparative Semitic evidence (Akkadian qadāšu, Ugaritic and Phoenician qdš, Arabic qaddasa and al-quds) points to a root field of purity and consecration, of pertaining to the divine sphere, rather than the nineteenth-century etymological guess of "separation"; the Aramaic adjective in Daniel behaves the same way. HALOT and BDB both divide the thirteen occurrences three ways: of deity (Dan 4:8, 9, 18; 5:11), of angelic beings (4:13, 17, 23), and of the recipients of the kingdom in Dan 7. The identity of the qaddîšê ʿelyônîn in Daniel 7 is among the most argued questions in Daniel scholarship. Martin Noth and L. Dequeker argued for an angelic referent, and John J. Collins developed the case at length, reading the holy ones as the heavenly host whose earthly counterpart is Israel and treating the genitive of Dan 7:27 (ʿam qaddîšê ʿelyônîn) as decisive; he also appeals to the standard use of "holy ones" for heavenly beings in Job 15:15, Ps 89:5-7, Zech 14:5 and Dan 8:13. Gerhard Hasel and Vern Poythress replied that 7:27 is appositional and that the persecution language of 7:21 and 7:25 suits a human community, a reading shared by Hartman and Di Lella; John Goldingay treats the expression as embracing both heavenly host and earthly faithful. The debate carries into New Testament study, where the Daniel 7 background is regularly invoked for Paul's οἱ ἅγιοι, and where the Qumran material (1QS 11:7-8; 1QHa 11; 1QM) shows how porous the line between earthly and heavenly "holy ones" had become. On the phrase "the spirit of the holy gods" in Dan 4:8, 9, 18 and 5:11, commentators note that the plural is natural on the lips of a Babylonian king, while some translations take it as a plural of respect for the one God.

Sources

  • L. Koehler, W. Baumgartner, J. J. Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT), Aramaic section, s.v. קַדִּישׁ (Brill, 1994-99)lexicon
  • F. Brown, S. R. Driver, C. A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB), Aramaic lexicon, s.v. קַדִּישׁ (Clarendon, 1907)lexicon
  • W. Kornfeld and H. Ringgren, "קדשׁ qdš," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT), vol. 12 (Eerdmans, 2003), 521-545dictionary
  • J. A. Naudé, "קדשׁ," in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDOTTE), vol. 3 (Zondervan, 1997), 877-887lexicon
  • J. J. Collins, Daniel, Hermeneia (Fortress, 1993)commentary
  • J. J. Collins, "The Son of Man and the Saints of the Most High in the Book of Daniel," Journal of Biblical Literature 93 (1974): 50-66article
  • M. Noth, "The Holy Ones of the Most High," in The Laws in the Pentateuch and Other Studies (Oliver & Boyd, 1966)article
  • L. Dequeker, "The 'Saints of the Most High' in Qumran and Daniel," Oudtestamentische Studiën 18 (1973)article
  • G. F. Hasel, "The Identity of 'The Saints of the Most High' in Daniel 7," Biblica 56 (1975)article
  • V. S. Poythress, "The Holy Ones of the Most High in Daniel VII," Vetus Testamentum 26 (1976)article
  • J. E. Goldingay, Daniel, Word Biblical Commentary 30 (Word, 1989)commentary
  • L. F. Hartman and A. A. Di Lella, The Book of Daniel, Anchor Bible 23 (Doubleday, 1978)commentary

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of קַדִּישׁ

m p absolute

קַדִּישִׁין

Dan 4:8, Dan 4:9, Dan 4:17, Dan 4:18, Dan 5:11, Dan 7:21, Dan 7:22

m p construct

קַדִּישֵׁי

Dan 7:18, Dan 7:22, Dan 7:25, Dan 7:27

c s absolute

קַדִּישׁ

Dan 4:13, Dan 4:23